All the Arts, All the Time

Gustavo Dudamel and wife expecting baby boy

October 5, 2010 | 11:11
am

Gustavo Dudamel's responsibilities take him to concerts all over the world, but starting next year, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's music director is likely to be spending more time at home. That's because Dudamel and his wife are expecting a baby.

The 29-year-old conductor told members of the orchestra that his wife, Eloísa Maturén, is pregnant.

“I will be Papa! I didn’t imagine it would be so special, and I even saw him … it’s a boy!,” he told the musicians.

This will be the first child for the couple, who married in Caracas, Venezuela, in 2006.

Maturén is a former ballet dancer and journalist who often travels with Dudamel to his concert engagements around the world.

Deborah Borda, president of the L.A. Philharmonic, said that the baby is due in the spring. Dudamel is set to open the L.A. Philharmonic's 2010-11 season on Thursday with a gala concert featuring tenor Juan Diego Flórez.

Dudamel and his wife have a home in Beachwood Canyon when in L.A. The conductor also holds top conducting positions with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra in Caracas and the Gothenburg Symphony in Sweden.

-- David Ng

Photo: Gustavo Dudamel and his wife, Eloísa Maturén. Credit: Susana Gonzales / For The Times